photo - http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog/archives/1218
Now, I’m going to try to be impartial here. With the obvious exception of being unable to resist the above picture. Deep breath.
One thing all UK journalists need to think about when they vote in May is the future of impartiality. There is fear among BBC Journalists that a conservative government would be in debt to News Corporation, and therefore open the door to profit driven news, à la Fox.
In August 2009, James Murdoch told the Edinburgh Television Festival that he’d had enough of the ‘chilling’ ‘state-sponsored’ BBC . Read his speech.
Since then, it’s pretty much been war between News Corp/Tories and BBC/Labour.
Murdoch decides to back Cameron for the election, Cameron says he’ll top slice the BBC scrap the BBC trust and overhaul Ofcom. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what’s going on.
In December of last year, while writing his Digital Economy Bill, Peter Mandelson came to the defence of public service broadcasting:
There are some in the commercial sector who believe that the future of British media would be served by cutting back the role of the media regulator. They take this view because they want to commandeer more space and income for themselves and because they want to maintain their iron grip on pay-TV, a market in which many viewers feel they are paying more than they should for their music and sport. They also want to erode the commitment to impartiality. In other words, to fill British airwaves with more Fox-style news.
He added:
In my view, Ofcom should be strengthened, not emasculated as some Conservative spokesmen have suggested.
Then Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Culture Secretary, announced something of a U-turn: The Tories will not freeze the license fee as planned. He said it was important the BBC should not operate under the threat of its funding level being reviewed on a year-by-year basis, which would threaten its impartiality and ability to hold politicians to account.
Which is something, but the Tories still plan to scrap the BBC trust, top slice the license fee and otherwise cut funding. Even if Labour get in there will almost certainly be cuts and top slicing. So a tough year ahead for the BBC, either way.
Clearly I’m struggling to be impartial. Let me be honest.
I find this whole business absolutely terrifying. It’s not the cuts – they are inevitable. It’s not the top-slicing, either, that’s necessary too. It’s partly the way News Corp manages to make independent, impartial news sound like Soviet propaganda (see below). But mostly, it’s just the creeping, pathetic way in which our politicians slither around Rupert Murdoch’s feet. For once, Mandy is the least slithery of them all.
I remember watching Mr Murdock’s protégée (his son) at the Edinburgh film festival. I watched it through the medium of the BBC, which was ironic. Would Fox news have broadcast such an irate speech if it attacked themselves and product placement sponsored news?
My favourite image of his almighty, Rupert Murdock, is an episode of The Simpsons when they ridicule Mr Murdock as this supernatural eerie character who can appear from nowhere. Also ironic is that the Simpsons is commissioned by Fox Broadcasting. Guess who owns Fox Broadcasting? Yes you guessed the Murdock dynasty.
The BBC is the biggest threat to the News Corp empire. James Murdock describes the BBC as state funded, and that is something he disputes. He wants to shut the BBC down. Something he father wanted when he gave a similar lecture twenty years ago.
Who will win the fight?
I am continuing this debate on digitalintegrity.wordpress.com
Will we one day see a commercial BBC? We are more likely to see James Murdock work for the BBC. But as the recent cuts in the BBC have shown, they are loosening the strength they have on the media world.
I also dread the decisions a Conservative government might make, but let’s not all panic yet.
Remember that Tony Blair and chums also used Murdoch to get in at number 10 and on this particular case, they didn’t sell their soul to the devil!
I think any cuts or threats to the BBC would feel like cuts to the NHS to most people in Britain and there would be a big public reaction to the move. Would they want to risk unpopularity so early on in their first term by making these decisions?
I tend to agree with smileJames here. I think not all would be bad, let’s remember that what manifestos say and what actually happens is a different story and if the party is using Murdoch to get a stronger foothold then that is intelligent campaigning.
Whilst I’m concerned at the proposed actions against the BBC I think we will have to wait and see what actually happens.
Exactly Giles. Like it or loathe it, Rupert Murdoch is a crucial pawn in the political game. We all saw how Blair benefitted from his close relationship with him and David Cameron could well reap the rewards of his courtship. As far as plans to alter the BBC are concerned I’m convinced that in practice they won’t be anywhere near as limiting as Cameron’s stating. It’s often the case that a lot of hot air is blown in the run up to election time.
I do find Rupert Murdoch a bit odd, the bloke is supposedly worth around $4 billion, is 79 years old but seems obsessed with wanting to control everything we watch and read.
I believe it is up to the citizen to decide their opinion on a news subject, not a news provider. We need impartial news broadcasters and agencies in the digital age, else who can we trust? Newspapers are already essentially bias (they do not need to adhere to strict Ofcom impartial guidelines). If TV and Radio are allowed to become bias, it leaves the public with no source of impartial news and information.
What we don’t need is the media essentially dictating to us opinions and bias news – I think humans are still capable enough to decide their own opinions.
If news is allowed to become bias (Fox News as a prime example), citizens could simply be ‘fed news’ and ‘fed opinions’…the theory of the media and the hypodermic needle model comes to mind here. With News Corporation likely to be the prime beneficial and news ‘feeder’ (considering its already huge media power), it will be an unsettling world to live in.
Jason